Jongin watched as Kyungsoo carefully snipped away a shoot from the branch of the small plant he was tending to. His expression was unreadable save but for the slight furrow of concentration between his brows as he leant forward to examine the placement of a carefully wired branch. Kyungsoo seldom devoted himself to any one thing, but horticulture was one of the few exceptions. Jongin had spent many an hour watching his stepbrother pouring over the plants he ever so tenderly cultivated and managed.

"Is that the one we collected? Yew Plum Pine, right?" Jongin asked. It was true that Kyungsoo didn't devote himself with ease to any one thing, and the same line of thinking could be taken when considering the number of people he tolerated. The numbers were shockingly low, and Jongin took great pride in the fact that he was one of them.

It went further than that, though, even if Jongin didn't quite see it himself. He wasn't just tolerated by his stepbrother, he was liked. Liked enough for Kyungsoo to include him in his hobbies. Enough for him to humor Jongin's babbling queries. Enough for him to actively make the effort to have Jongin nearby. Kyungsoo tolerated people, but he liked Jongin. 

"Yes." Kyungsoo replied, not looking up from his work. "Podocarpus macrophyllus." He recited the scientific name with ease. 

Jongin leant forward, his hands cupped under his chin for support and a small smile gracing his face at the sight of his stepbrother's fierce concentration. "I didn't know you wanted to keep it small."

"I decided to give bonsai a shot." Kyungsoo murmured in response.

Jongin eyed the small tree. The strap-shaped leaves were a rich green colour, a central midrib running along the length of the leaf. It's bark was a plain brownish grey. To him, it seemed entirely unremarkable. He was only paying attention to it because Kyungsoo was. 

"Is it hard to do?"

Despite the fact that his eyes did not leave the plant in front of him, Kyungsoo seemed to consider Jongin's question seriously. "It's a time consuming process, but if done right, rewarding. There are a number of techniques that can be employed for the sake of creating a bonsai. Of course, there are obvious methods like leaf and branch t, pruning and of course wire shaping." he motioned at the branch nearest Jongin, copper wire having been carefully wrapped around it's circumference from tip to trunk. "There are also factors like the soil composition and repotting. I can always try clamping the trunk, and grafting, too."

"Grafting?" Jongin asked.

"It's a horticultural technique where two or more different plants are joined together so they seem to grow as one plant. There's a phenomena similar to it called inosculation, but inosculation happens naturally rather than through human intervention."

Jongin knew that Kyungsoo was giving him an extremely simplified explanation to a topic that was obviously far more complex. He didn't mind. At that moment, his stepbrother flicked off the desk light he had been using to examine his bonsai under.

How long had they been sitting there? Jongin blinked and looked up at the sudden lack of light, his eyes quickly attempting to adjust. Any light entering from outside was dispered and scattered weakly in the shadowed corners of the large, dimly-lit dining room they were seated in. Kyungsoo's face was only half visible to Jongin - his stepbrothers features were distorted and lengthened by the encroaching darkness. 

"Branches, bark and roots of two different trees, intertwining so closely that they grow and merge into one." Kyungsoo smiled, but there was no softness to it. It was a jagged split on an otherwise unmarred countenance. "Don't you think that's similar to what's happening to us?"

...
A/N
I've had this idea floating around for awhile but didn't like what I came up with. This is my re-attempt at getting this fic out.
This will be a dark (-ish?) fic. Evidently, centered around an unhealthy relationship and uhhhh murder. Because that's this winters mood for me and I need to express it haha.
 

I will be taking prompts for the chapters I write, so please hit me up in the comments/messages/ tumblr ask [ here ] :-)